One thing once associated in the American public mind with the Irish, but not much heard of nowadays, is the “Irishism” – the Irish, supposedly, are given to innocently oxymoronic statements, like, “Sure, 'tis a fine thing to be alone, especially when your sweetheart is with ye!” Whether that’s just a comical-stage-Irish-nonsense thing or has any basis in fact, I have no idea.
Van Morrison
The Pogues
Van Morrison & The Chieftains
Bushmill’s.
Also: “I’m black & I’m proud!”
+1
And, of course, the Luck of the Irish! 
Colonization, poverty, alcoholism, civil strife, religious strife, potato famine . . .
Baileys
Loreena McKennitt (okay, she’s only Irish-Canadian, but her music is often Irish)
Sinead O’Connor (talented in spite of her obnoxiousness)
Fiona from Burn Notice
Oscar Wilde (whose statue on a rock in Merrion Square, Dublinis known to locals as either “the Quare* in the Square” or “The Fag on the Crag”)
Brendan Behan- a proud Irish nationalist who gave my favorite quote about the Irish that I’ve adapted for my fellow southerners: “If it were raining soup they’d be running out with forks”.
Peter O’Toole and his ex-wife Sian Phillips
Flogging Molly
Quare= pronunciation of queer
**Another favorite Behan story was when he was asked in a religiously mixed audience at a lecture “Are you a Protestant or a Catholic?” He responded “Neither actually, I am an atheist. I do not believe in God.” After a silence one person asked “So the God you don’t believe in, is He the god of the Protestants or the Catholics?”
My Kiss Me I’m Irish mug.
qft! :d
The Secret of Roan Inish is my all-time favorite movie. In fact I’m going to go watch more of it now.
Also watching my daughter and her Irish dance school-mates dance. The older girls look like they’re flying, I swear.
Irish breakfast tea
And for that matter, the full Irish breakfast to go with it
Irish wool sweaters
Tin whistles, fiddles, and bodhrans
Irish accents (I could just about marry a woman just for an Irish brogue)
I might have to consult with ruadh or yojimbo on this one but I have never heard either of those terms for that statue. The tart with the cart (Molly Malone), the prick with the stick (J. Joyce) but never either of those.
Was there ever actually a real Molly Malone, or is it just a tribute to the song?
There’s lots of Internet cites, but I heard it on a documentary in an interview with Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland (who thought his grandpa would have been amused by it).
Nope, I never heard it either. And I work locally (although admittedly not with many locals 
)
Not actually that many redheads here BTW. The real classic Irish look is dark brown hair with blue eyes.
I never heard of the Wilde thing either.
Behold, the greatest thing about Ireland:
FWIW I’ve heard both of the sayings “the Quare in the Square” and "The Fag on the Crag.
There’s also The hags with the bags, The floozy in the jacuzzi, The tart with the cart, The prick with the stick and The ace with the bass
